The Desire of Ages
by Ellen G. White
Chapter 55: Not With Outward Show
This chapter is based on Luke 17:20-22.
Some of the Pharisees had come to Jesus demanding "when
the kingdom of God should come." More than three years had passed since
John the Baptist gave the message that like a trumpet call had sounded through
the land, "The kingdom of heaven is at hand." Matthew 3:2. And as yet
these Pharisees saw no indication of the establishment of the kingdom. Many of
those who rejected John, and at every step had opposed Jesus, were insinuating
that His mission had failed. {DA
506.1}
Jesus answered, "The kingdom of God cometh not with
outward show; [margin]: neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold,
the kingdom of God is within you." The kingdom of God begins in the heart.
Look not here or there for manifestations of earthly power to mark its coming. {DA 506.2}
"The days will come," He said, turning to His
disciples, "when ye shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of man,
and ye shall not see it." Because it is not attended by worldly pomp, you
are in danger of failing to discern the glory of My mission. You do not realize
how great is your present privilege in having among you, though veiled in
humanity, Him who is the life and the light of men. The days will come when you
will look back with longing upon the opportunities you now enjoy to walk and
talk with the Son of God. {DA
506.3}
Because of their selfishness and earthliness, even the
disciples of Jesus [507] could not comprehend the
spiritual glory which He sought to reveal unto them. It was not until after
Christ's ascension to His Father, and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon
the believers, that the disciples fully appreciated the Saviour's character and
mission. After they had received the baptism of the Spirit, they began to
realize that they had been in the very presence of the Lord of glory. As the
sayings of Christ were brought to their remembrance, their minds were opened to
comprehend the prophecies, and to understand the miracles which He had wrought.
The wonders of His life passed before them, and they were as men awakened from
a dream. They realized that "the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us,
(and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the Only-begotten of the Father,)
full of grace and truth." John 1:14. Christ had actually come from God to
a sinful world to save the fallen sons and daughters of Adam. The disciples now
seemed, to themselves, of much less importance than before they realized this.
They never wearied of rehearsing His words and works. His lessons, which they
had but dimly understood, now came to them as a fresh revelation. The
Scriptures became to them a new book. {DA 506.4}
As the disciples searched the prophecies that testified of
Christ, they were brought into fellowship with the Deity, and learned of Him
who had ascended to heaven to complete the work He had begun on earth. They
recognized the fact that in Him dwelt knowledge which no human being, unaided
by divine agency, could comprehend. They needed the help of Him whom kings,
prophets, and righteous men had foretold. With amazement they read and reread
the prophetic delineations of His character and work. How dimly had they
comprehended the prophetic scriptures! how slow they had been in taking in the
great truths which testified of Christ! Looking upon Him in His humiliation, as
He walked a man among men, they had not understood the mystery of His
incarnation, the dual character of His nature. Their eyes were holden, so that
they did not fully recognize divinity in humanity. But after they were
illuminated by the Holy Spirit, how they longed to see Him again, and to place
themselves at His feet! How they wished that they might come to Him, and have
Him explain the scriptures which they could not comprehend! How attentively
would they listen to His words! What had Christ meant when He said, "I
have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now"? John
16:12. How eager they were to know it all! They grieved that their faith had
been so [508]
feeble, that their ideas had been so wide of the mark, that they had so failed
of comprehending the reality. {DA 507.1}
A herald had been sent from God to proclaim the coming of
Christ, and to call the attention of the Jewish nation and of the world to His
mission, that men might prepare for His reception. The wonderful personage whom
John had announced had been among them for more than thirty years, and they had
not really known Him as the One sent from God. Remorse took hold of the
disciples because they had allowed the prevailing unbelief to leaven their
opinions and becloud their understanding. The Light of this dark world had been
shining amid its gloom, and they had failed to comprehend whence were its
beams. They asked themselves why they had pursued a course that made it
necessary for Christ to reprove them. They often repeated His conversations,
and said, Why did we allow earthly considerations and the opposition of priests
and rabbis to confuse our senses, so that we did not comprehend that a greater
than Moses was among us, that One wiser than Solomon was instructing us? How
dull were our ears! how feeble was our understanding! {DA 508.1}
Thomas would not believe until he had thrust his finger into
the wound made by the Roman soldiers. Peter had denied Him in His humiliation
and rejection. These painful remembrances came before them in distinct lines.
They had been with Him, but they had not known or appreciated Him. But how
these things now stirred their hearts as they recognized their unbelief! {DA 508.2}
As priests and rulers combined against them, and they were
brought before councils and thrust into prison, the followers of Christ
rejoiced "that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His
name." Acts 5:41. They rejoiced to prove, before men and angels, that they
recognized the glory of Christ, and chose to follow Him at the loss of all
things. {DA 508.3}
It is as true now as in apostolic days, that without the
illumination of the divine Spirit, humanity cannot discern the glory of Christ.
The truth and the work of God are unappreciated by a world-loving and
compromising Christianity. Not in the ways of ease, of earthly honor or worldly
conformity, are the followers of the Master found. They are far in advance, in
the paths of toil, and humiliation, and reproach, in the front of the battle
"against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers
of this darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places."
Ephesians 6:12, R. V. And now, as in [509]
Christ's day, they are misunderstood and reproached and oppressed by the
priests and Pharisees of their time. {DA 508.4}
The kingdom of God comes not with outward show. The gospel
of the grace of God, with its spirit of self-abnegation, can never be in
harmony with the spirit of the world. The two principles are antagonistic.
"The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they
are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are
spiritually discerned." 1 Corinthians 2:14. {DA 509.1}
But today in the religious world there are multitudes who,
as they believe, are working for the establishment of the kingdom of Christ as
an earthly and temporal dominion. They desire to make our Lord the ruler of the
kingdoms of this world, the ruler in its courts and camps, its legislative
halls, its palaces and market places. They expect Him to rule through legal
enactments, enforced by human authority. Since Christ is not now here in person,
they themselves will undertake to act in His stead, to execute the laws of His
kingdom. The establishment of such a kingdom is what the Jews desired in the
days of Christ. They would have received Jesus, had He been willing to
establish a temporal dominion, to enforce what they regarded as the laws of
God, and to make them the expositors of His will and the agents of His
authority. But He said, "My kingdom is not of this world." John
18:36. He would not accept the earthly throne. {DA 509.2}
The government under which Jesus lived was corrupt and
oppressive; on every hand were crying abuses,—extortion, intolerance,
and grinding cruelty. Yet the Saviour attempted no civil reforms. He attacked
no national abuses, nor condemned the national enemies. He did not interfere
with the authority or administration of those in power. He who was our example
kept aloof from earthly governments. Not because He was indifferent to the woes
of men, but because the remedy did not lie in merely human and external measures.
To be efficient, the cure must reach men individually, and must regenerate the
heart. {DA 509.3}
Not by the decisions of courts or councils or legislative
assemblies, not by the patronage of worldly great men, is the kingdom of Christ
established, but by the implanting of Christ's nature in humanity through the
work of the Holy Spirit. "As many as received Him, to them gave He power
to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name: which were
born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but
of God." John 1:12, 13. Here is the only power that [510] can
work the uplifting of mankind. And the human agency for the accomplishment of
this work is the teaching and practicing of the word of God. {DA 509.4}
When the apostle Paul began his ministry in Corinth, that
populous, wealthy, and wicked city, polluted by the nameless vices of
heathenism, he said, "I determined not to know anything among you, save
Jesus Christ, and Him crucified." 1 Corinthians 2:2. Writing afterward to
some of those who had been corrupted by the foulest sins, he could say,
"But ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the
name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God." "I thank my
God always on your behalf, for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus
Christ." 1 Corinthians 6:11; 1:4. {DA 510.1}
Now, as in Christ's day, the work of God's kingdom lies not
with those who are clamoring for recognition and support by earthly rulers and
human laws, but with those who are declaring to the people in His name those
spiritual truths that will work in the receivers the experience of Paul:
"I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ
liveth in me." Galatians 2:20. Then they will labor as did Paul for the
benefit of men. He said, "Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as
though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye
reconciled to God." 2 Corinthians 5:20. {DA 510.2}
Click here to read the next chapter:
"Blessing the Children"
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